The Problem

Remembering words was always difficult for Sam, and before long it was clear he was in big trouble.

Before age 5 nothing seemed to separate Sam from his classmates developmentally. Mum Lisa began to have some doubts about her son’s ability to interact with written letters whilst in pre-school, however the teacher reassured her that his hit-and-miss approach to language was totally normal for his age.

A few months later he joined Kindergarten and all of a sudden reading took centre stage. By now, something much more dramatic was going on; it was almost as if his mind was totally and utterly switched off to remembering words. Sam could make the phonetic sounds out loud and express himself orally no problem. When he came across words written in the page of a book his mind instantly went blank and he guessed his way through. What’s more, despite being a generally focussed boy, Sam’s attention span when it came to reading was now incredibly short.

But what worried Lisa most was the effect of this ever widening gap on her son’s confidence. Whilst his friends were dealing in increasingly complex language; Sam was left stumped by simple three letter words, despite sometimes having come across them just a few minutes before.

Lisa was concerned, but the school still insisted that things were on track. She was determined to listen to her instincts on this, and so pushed for an assessment with the school’s resident Occupational Therapist. This confirmed what Lisa had suspected; Sam’s working memory was substantially weaker than most children his age. In a way it was a relief, but a daunting call to action as well.

Following the assessment, Lisa wasn’t prepared to sit back and watch as his suffering unfolded, so they decided to take the bull by the horns. Continual one on one practice at home and at school was coupled with Occupational Therapy for his memorisation ability. They also tried a number of reading intervention programs including Reading Eggs. Despite everything, he was still reading b’s as d’s and confusing ‘was’ for ‘saw’.

A few months later and still on the hunt for the reading Holy Grail, one of Lisa’s friends mentioned that they had used a program called Easyread to great success, so she looked it up. Immediately she could tell that the program offered a compendium of features that perfectly matched Sam’s profile: repetition, highly visual cues, quick-fire daily lessons and fun and interactive games. The trial lesson was a huge hit. What’s more, a few days later Sam was still regaling the family with his explanations for The Ants in Pink Pants and The Bear with Long Hair – he had remembered it all perfectly! Lisa was so impressed that by the end of the week they had signed up.

The Solution

The one thing that Lisa was immediately pleased to discover was that doing Easyread was not a chore. Mother and son sat together at the computer each day and laughed along to the jokes, inventive characters and games. The spy themed prizes that arrived in the post really caught his imagination too, and were a great motivator. Reading together before now had been like trying to get water out of a stone. With Easyread, the fun and the learning flowed harmoniously, and within just a few minutes they were done for the day. It was such a relief!

Lisa also enjoyed how supported she felt by the team. Every week they received updates and feedback on his progress, and she was given the opportunity to share their experiences over the messaging system and during the phone consultations. Sam was being considered as an individual rather than being pushed through a generic battery of lessons.

One example of this was when some testing in the lessons revealed Sam to have an eye-tracking weakness. This was not something that Lisa had ever suspected before, but they tried the set of physical exercises suggested by the team nonetheless. It required hard work and commitment, but in a matter of weeks they could see a clear change.

Sam dressed up in his Easyread spy kit!

The Result

Since starting Easyread Sam has progressed by 14 reading levels at school. That is essentially the equivalent of 1.5 years progress in just 8 months! These days, everywhere they go Sam will read whatever he can lay his hands on. His confidence has taken a gigantic leap too, which for Lisa is probably the most important thing. In fact, Sam has now developed such a joy for reading that all he ever wants to do is go to the bookshop! His focus is excellent compared with how it used to be as well. A 20 minute reading session can fly by!

Being at a very high achieving school, Sam is by no means at the top of his class, but just to be in the middle and not at the bottom, is a huge load off.

An additional bonus from the course which Lisa certainly hadn’t expected is the affect it has had on Sam’s general academic abilities-simply because he can now read the questions! The school system in New South Wales, Australia – where Sam and Lisa live – does not care whether a child can answer the question verbally; if they cannot not read it and write the answer down they are failed – even in Kindergarten! Now that Sam has unlocked the mystery that was language, maths, science and art can be understood at a whole new level.

Sam’s spelling has also improved, and although this is something they are continuing to work on, the very fact that he will now write a story for the very pleasure of it signals to Lisa that this can only get better.

Something else that is still very much a work-in-progress is Sam’s memory retention. Sam will begin a new program to help with this later in the year. However his ability to read has made him a more successful learner and a generally much happier child both at home and at school, so Lisa is certainly not worried!

A year ago, Lisa was concerned at the prospect of her son’s educational future. Now with just over two months’ worth of lessons to go she cannot wait to see what the future holds. Sam is teetering on the edge of reading take off, and his confidence has taken off at rocket speed. Anything is possible!

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Laura O’Sullivan is a Reading Specialist at Morgan Learning Solutions, publisher of the Easyread System. Easyread is an online course that specialises in helping struggling readers and spellers who need support due to dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, a strong visual learning style, poor memory, and more. www.easyreadsystem.com